The invention relates to a system comprising at least two conductor rails, in particular composite sections each featuring a rail-shaped load-bearing section and at least one strip-shaped section of another metal exhibiting greater wear resistance, in which the ends of pairs of neighboring rails are connected electrically by at least one conductor of variable length. The said load-bearing section comprises a base and, at about its middle, an integral flange.
Composite sections made up of two section components are known from DE-24 32 541. These composites are manufactured by creating the load-bearing section in an extrusion process in which an ingot is pressed through the shape-giving opening of a die for light weight metals; at the same time the strip-shaped section passes through the die opening or shape-giving cross-section parallel to the longitudinal axis of the die.
In systems using such conductor rails, possibly experiencing changes in length due to fluctuating operating and ambient temperatures, the connecting regions of neighboring conductor rails should compensate for these changes in length and should, as much as possible, ensure that a sliding power-transfer shoe or power collector has uninterrupted contact in the region where both conductor rails are joined. To that end it has been proposed e.g. to cut the conductor rail ends at an acute angle and to join them by fish-plates. Conductor rails are also arranged parallel to each other at their ends and with the possibility of commutating the power transfer shoe. The known solutions involve technically difficult installation of a plurality of special accessories, at the same time requiring more space.